Friday Morning, Early

Posted Fri Aug 20, 2010 in

GingerI woke about an hour ago, rolled over, and tried to go back to sleep. No joy. So, I rose, chided Young Son for still being up, and sat down at the computer to finish the install of my jailbroken 4.0.1 iPhone firmware. All that was required was a restore and then update all of my software.

There is a reason for the update. HDR Pro was just updated and it’s a tool that I find interesting. I use my iPhone for most of my photography (it’s an easy carry-camera) and find HDR photography interesting. Many of the scenes I see are high dynamic range — beyond the capabilities of most sensors (but not human eyes). So there is usually a choice to be made — highlights or shadows. HDR photography combines two (or more) images to expand the dynamic range of the composite image.

My iPhone software is reinstalling now… I should be back up and running in a few more minutes.

The week was a challenge. Today is leg-day for training. I just finished laying out the morning exercises. The cardio workout yesterday wasn’t as good as Tuesday, but I’m on-track there, I think. Trikes and pects are sore this morning — another good sign that what I’m doing is working.

Although I do not enjoy the lactic-acid burn and the mental game of working through that to the point of momentary muscle failure, I know that is where the work gets done. It’s those last couple of repetitions that break down the muscle and force the adaptive change. I’m retraining the mental game to believe this struggle is just for me and will get me to the point I want to be — stronger, more healthy, more energetic, and better equipped to face what is before me.

Part of the mental game and what I really need to get ingrained is that this pain is a good pain. It’s the goal because it will take me where I want to be. It is a small struggle to get past and it isn’t real pain, the kind that means hurt!; it’s the kind of pain that represents growth.

There’s the head game. The body says You must STOP this because it is built-in to resist change. The mind says Keep GOING because I know, intellectually, that this isn’t a bad thing but a deliberate stretch toward personal growth.

So, this time around, I’m working on my head game. I want my head in the game and to restructure my internal dialogue to understand that the discomfort is only temporary and will result in gain. I need to restructure my internal dialogue that I’m not doing this because I need to (which I do), but because it is part of my time to do something just for me. I don’t do a lot of things just for me, that being something I struggle with. But, I do a few things just for me because they are rebuilding.

So, although I’m struggling with this change, I believe it’s necessary. Instead of spending my early-morning time on the computer, I’m spending part of it (most maybe) working on the physical part of myself to support the mental and spiritual parts of myself. I’m doing this because I believe it’s the right thing to do. I want to be strong enough to spend the remaining portion of my life doing the things that need to be done as well as those that should be done.

Those things are a topic for another time.

Edit: Imaged added later… just because I wanted an image in the entry. The image reminds me of the mandrake root from Pan’s Labyrinth. Yes, it’s the visual equivalent of a non sequitur.

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Lesson Learned

Posted Thu Aug 19, 2010 in

I woke about a half-hour ago, not able to settle back down into sleep. The coffee finished a few minutes ago and my Nalgene bottle is filled with water. I’m hopeful the coffee will help stir my gray matter and the water will rehydrate my body.

Today is aerobics (cardio) day and I’m about ready. I’ll go ride the HealthGlider in a half-hour or an hour, once I completely waken. I want to have my head totally in the game, which is required for interval training.

My muscles are “twingy” this morning. One of the things I noticed long ago is that whenever I make an adjustment to one or more exercises (or exercise groups), there are unexpected changes in muscle groups that are not the focus of the change. Even without “cheating” during the exercise regimen, our bodies call in additional muscle groups when we really stress the primary. A great example of this is the impact of increased weight on the bench press on deltoids, triceps, and biceps.

I pushed the weight up a notch (one notch too many I’ll note) yesterday on the bench. I wasn’t able to complete the double-pump portion of the metaset; I maxed out on the first half of the double-pump. So, there were no flyes in that set. Although I was disappointed that I couldn’t complete the meta-set, it was still a good exercise. I pushed my chest muscle group to failure.

I also pushed my deltoids, biceps, and triceps pretty hard in the process. My deltoid metaset follows the chest group. The delts were pretty tired, although I made it through their routine. My arms got a bit of a rest on the upper-back metaset, but they were pretty tired when their turn came. They received a pretty decent workout during the chest exercise and didn’t have to be pushed quite to hard to get to failure.

The lesson learned for the day was that I should make adjustments to major muscle group routines and leave the others alone. If I’m not adjusting major muscle group weights (and exercises), then adjustments to minor muscle groups are fine.

On Saturday I will complete my second week on this program. It isn’t easy, but it is straighforward. I will complete the entire cycle one time — upper and lower body routines three times each and cardio six times. I’ll also have a decent estimate on my weight loss over a one-week period (just got the scales last weekend) so I can track that statistic. I am logging training and eating patterns and will have those data to review. I’ll do a full review Sunday and plan the next one- and two-week cycles.

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Tired and Sore

Posted Wed Aug 18, 2010 in

I’ve been up about a half-hour and am going to make a motion to get to the shower, get fed, then get to the office to start the day.

I crashed last night and slept about ten hours. I never sleep ten hours… never. I woke this morning about 0530 tired and sore. The cardio routine yesterday (interval training for 20 minutes to momentary muscle failure) blitzed me, coupled with getting the lower-body weights about right on Monday.

So, I don’t have much in me this morning and am going to listen to my body and give it until this afternoon to recover. I have an evening meeting (board meeting I sit whenever I can) scheduled in Virginia City (about 45 minutes from here), but might blow it off. I’d rather work out my upper body, rest, and ready myself for the next cardio workout tomorrow.

Of course, I’ll miss the ride to Virginia City. It’s a nice bike ride and the air will be cool at that altitude. Maybe I’ll do the upper body workout, then ride out there and if I don’t make it in time ride on to south Reno and then home via SR28 — the long way home. Probably not, but it is a nice thought…

Now I need to get my head together, get showered, fed, and get my sorry ass to the office. I’m going to finish the current hydraulic model this morning and then knock out the draft report this afternoon. Then it will be on to Number 3 tomorrow and hopefully have it knocked out Friday. I think I’ll do the hydraulic modeling for Number 4 over the weekend and get that report out Monday, which will leave one more to be done (and any report editing) by the following Friday.

Then it will be off to Park City, Utah, for the National Hydraulic Engineering Conference and a paper to present (which is still wanting attention). But, a week in Park City will be good. I’m planning on doing some walking while I’m there and maybe even make a few images.

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Body for Life (Reprise)

Posted Mon Aug 16, 2010 in

After ten years of being off the program, I’m returning to the Body for Life program. It is time for me to get active, get focused, and drop this weight I’m carrying. I don’t like the way I feel and there are health issues that need to be addressed through a combination of improved fitness and reduced weight.

I worked through most of a 12-week transformation way back in 2000. Now, ten-years later, I need to take up what I learned and practice it. I can do this.

I’ve used weight training off and on most of my adult life. I started when I was a 20-something with a cheap set of concrete-filled plastic plates and a cobbled together bench in my friend’s garage. I read Strength Training, by the Experts because a red-headed friend of mine recommended. It showed me how to use a simple inverted pyramid to improve strength in an organized, thoughtful method. I learned to emphasize the negative portion of the movement to improve muscle breakdown to benefit the recovery portion of the cycle.

Enter the year 2000 and a bunch of negative energy in my life. It was so bad that I really thought I might die. Much of that story is told here so there’s no reason to retell it. Suffice it to say that the BFL program gave me some focus and I needed it.

So, to make a long story short, I’m working on the program again. I need to make these changes for me and for my family. I made it through the first week. This week is the lower-body week and will complete a full cycle through the program. The exercise routine is three strength training session and three aerobics sessions per week. Strength-training days alternate body segment (upper and lower) to provide enough time for the muscles to fully recover. So, the weeks break down into upper-body weeks and lower-body weeks. It requires two weeks to get through an entire cycle.

The full cycle will give me a data point from which to make adjustments to my routines and give me a baseline to measure strength-training progress. So, I’ll know more next weekend after I have a chance to analyze the week’s work.

So, off we go. <looks over shoulder> Jim said he’d be watching me…

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End of A Weekend

Posted Sun Apr 27, 2008 in

I suppose I should scrabble around and find an image to post here. But, it’s late and I don’t feel like it.

It’s been a strange weekend. Yesterday we did our normal Saturday-morning thing. Wife went to her meeting, I drove to the Carson Armory (and lusted after a Bushy). I picked her up and we passed by Nevada Gun Exchange (nothing interesting there), then headed for the house. That’s when things went a different track than normal.

We went into the garage and retrieved the give-away-boxes. These boxes had things we determined to give away — so we drove to the Goodwill store and dropped them off. Then we headed back toward home, but stopped at Gold’s Gym in the shopping center about five minutes from home. I’ve determined to start training again. My doctor wants me to drop some weight and increase my physical activity. I want to feel better and have more strength and energy.

There’s only one way to get there. So, Wife and I signed up for a year. I printed off a set of Body for Life forms and got them organized. I have a fair idea of what my routine should look like. I also know what I should be eating. I’ve done this before — I know it works.

We drove to Minden and moved my office things to the back room. I decided to move to a quieter area where I can focus a little better. Moving the computers and my few things took a couple of hours.

This morning we went back to the garage and moved some boxes around. We took a load of empty electronics boxes and a few other things to the storage unit. We organized the garage a bit, had a bite of lunch, and then drove to Fleet Feet to buy Wife some decent shoes. The store was really busy, but Joy is, well, a joy and she managed to handle multiple customers in parallel. She’s very good at what she does and is the reason I took Wife there.

We brought her things home and I puttered around on the computer a bit. I managed to get some work done this weekend, despite all the other running around. This evening I watched The Searchers. It’s a dark western that is surprising given the nature of most westerns produced in the mid-1950’s. I really enjoyed it and it would be worth watching again. I just wish it was in stereo.

Now I’m about to give it up for the evening. I’m planning on an early start tomorrow with an upper-body workout first thing, then breakfast and work. I’m a little trepidated about the workout, but I’ve done this before, know what to do, and know I can do it.

So, here we go. Goodnight!

What? Low-Fat, High-Carbo Diets Aren't Really Good for Me?

Posted Thu Oct 3, 2002 in

Over at Rebecca Blood’s site, she has a review and pointer to an article that (gasp!) suggests that the Atkins diet might not be such a bad thing!

I’ve been following Bill Phillips’ recommendations in his Body for Life book for a couple of years now, which is a moderately low-fat diet that balances protein and carbohydrate intake. His approach works, especially when coupled with moderate amounts of high-quality exercise (a combination of aerobics and strength training). Of course, the real problem is the energy balance. To maintain weight, one must balance input with output. It’s really that simple.

Body for Life

Posted Sun Sep 30, 2001 in

I just got back from my morning workout. Daughter and I go to Gym-X three times each week to use the weight training facilities. We get there at about 0515 — very early. We had a great workout this morning, although both of us were flagging at the end.

I admit that I started it. Back last fall (Fall 2000), when my family was struggling so with Older Son’s problems, I was having a very hard time. I was also at my greatest weight ever, nearly 200 pounds. Thanksgiving was a very hard time and Older Son was in very bad condition. I never felt worse in my life. I really thought I was going to have a heart attack or something equally bad.

[Ahhh, coffee’s now ready… Yummmm, that’s good!]

Anyway, just about Thanksgiving, we were at the Goedeke branch of the Lubbock Public Library and I saw a book on the new books rack called Body for Life by Bill Phillips. I picked it up and flipped through it while Wife and Young Son were looking through the books for their picks. In less than five minutes, I realized this program was something I could do.

I was definitely at a point where I needed to do something. The pressures of work and family were reaching critical mass and there was going to be an explosion (or implosion). In any event, I checked out the book and took it home with me. It only took me a couple of hours to read through it the first time. My friend (and physician) Griff, lent me two of Phillips’ videos on body building and how he came to the approach put forth in Body for Life. The videos were inspiring, because they depicted real people who used Phillips’ approach to make life-changing decisions.

You may call it my subconscious if you like, but I heard that small, still voice that I attribute to the Spirit of God whisper “this is my gift to you.” I knew I needed something for an outlet. I also knew that I needed to let go of the responsibility for Older Son’s problems; that responsibility lies with him and him alone. (Let me tell you, that is a hard place to get to!) I already had a used Soloflex that I bought at a garage sale. I talked to my doctor who gave me the “go for it” talk (thanks Griff), and planned to start my program on 04 Dec 2000.

I had a few setbacks along the way, primarily travel and work, but I completed my 12 weeks 15 March 2001, about two weeks behind schedule. I lost about 20 pounds, felt tons better, and had more energy than I had had in about 15 years. I continued to work out over the summer, but not with the dedication I had last spring.

Today marks the beginning of my second 12-week program. Daughter and Son-in-Law have been going for about four weeks now. They got started because of me. Son-in-Law is doing great. Daughter amazes me. She’s just a little bit of a thing, but has managed to increase her strength considerably and I love watching her determination to push through the burn. I’ve been weight training with Daughter for about three weeks now. I haven’t looked to see what my end date will be, but I will do that and get my records together. Part of the program is a core record keeping program. It’s not difficult or time consuming, but it gives one a benchmark and a way of assessing problems should something not go as planned.

Phillips’ program is not new, and he promotes the EAS brand of supplements exclusively. Clearly, it’s part of the marketing plan for EAS. That said, the program is solid, the recommendations for supplementation are logical, the exercise program is well laid out, and Phillips is an excellent motivator. For someone who has not done extensive research into the dynamics of strength training and the body-builder’s diet, this is a great place to start. I learned a lot (and I’ve done a lot of research) and still can recommend his book and his program.

The support web site is at www.bodyforlife.com and it’s an interesting site. Many BFL’ers leave message on the bulletin board celebrating their successes.

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